Sonia Sanchez, a poet, activist and lecturer, specializes in national and international lectures on black culture and literature, peace and racial justice. She was the featured speaker Oct. 24 for the Winston-Salem State’s lecture and assembly series.
The lecture was sponsored by the department of English and Foreign Languages. This took place in the Hall-Patterson building. The crowd of students and faculty filled the lecture hall.
Sanchez told the audience of her days as a protester during the Vietnam War and her experience at a recruitment center.
“When we first got there we asked the people in charge if it was OK if we spoke to the recruits. And they were nice about it and said yes, until we spoke with one recruit and ask him why was he joining the army and he said because they told him that he could become a doctor. I told him he didn’t need the army for that.
“That’s when they asked us to leave. But we didn’t and later we were put in handcuffs. Well, I told them if you don’t go to boot camp we would do push-ups. That’s where the name push-ups for peace came from.”
Sanchez was an influential part of the civil rights movement and black arts movement in the 1960s. She also was a member of the New York Core (Congress for Racial Equality).
“We protested a hospital in New York because we wanted them to open up unions for blacks, Hispanics, and Puerto Ricans. We protested downtown until 3:00 a.m.,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez also told stories about her life growing up in Birmingham, Alabama, then later moving to Harlem, New York.
“Some people called it Bombingham, where blacks lived in the shadows of whites. But, in the South, you could not leave a room until you learned something. In the North it was like they expected less. Black boys were going to be in jail and black girls were going to have babies,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez ended her lecture by issuing a challenge to the audience:
“For one week I want everyone not to say anything negative about someone else. Call me and let me know what this has done for you.”